The U.S. Post Office and Mine Rescue Station in Jellico, Tennessee, is a historic building built in 1915 to house two U.S. federal government functions.[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The first floor of the two-story Beaux Arts-style building was a post office and the second floor was devoted to the activities of the U.S. Bureau of Mines and a local mine rescue organization serving the coal mining region around Jellico.[2] Mine rescue stations were outfitted with equipment needed to respond to underground mining accidents and served as sites for conducting training of local mining personnel.[3][4] Congressman Richard Wilson Austin, who represented the area in the U.S. House of Representatives, was credited with obtaining authorization for the building's construction, which cost about $80,000 (equivalent to about $2,400,000 today).[2] Design of the building was by the Office of the Supervising Architect; design work was started by James Knox Taylor and completed by Oscar Wenderoth.[5] It was built in 1915 and dedicated the following year.[3][4] The building was considered to be unusually fine for a small town like Jellico.[2] A contemporary account suggested that it might be characterized as "government pork".[2] The facilities for the Bureau of Mines were described as the "best ... hitherto given to this organization". In addition to offices, a lecture hall, and electrical connections for a "motion-picture machine",[2] these facilities included a smoke room, equipped with an exhaust fan, which was used in training miners in the use of breathing apparatus for mine rescues.[2][4]
A similar combination post office and mine-rescue station was later built in Norton, Virginia. Norton is the only other U.S. community ever to have had a combined post office and mine-rescue station,[3][5] although one was proposed for Hazard, Kentucky.[4]
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Jellico Mine-Rescue Station". Coal Age. 9 (15): 641–642. April 8, 1916.
- ^ a b c "Construction News". Coal Age. 7 (3): 144. January 16, 1915.
- ^ a b c d Public Building, Hazard, Kentucky: Statement of Mr. Van Manning, Director of the Bureau of Mines. Subcommittee 3 of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, U.S. House of Representatives. April 21, 1916.
- ^ a b Clifton, John (December 16, 1998). "From the Mayor's Desk..." Jellico Advance Sentinel. The author was mayor of the city of Jellico.
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